


Sleeping Beauty

by Anthemyst



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, based on the most gorgeous fanart, mama agreste rescue fic, sapphic dalliances in the dreamscape, tfw the sexy villainess is your only hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 22:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14757113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anthemyst/pseuds/Anthemyst
Summary: Emilie Agreste was dreaming.Emilie Agreste had been dreaming for a very long time.





	Sleeping Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this breathtaking [fanart](https://gabriel-fucking-agreste.tumblr.com/post/167002201975/honestly-ive-seen-a-lot-of-art-and-fic-where-mrs) by [poppicock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppicock).

Emilie Agreste was dreaming. Emilie Agreste had been dreaming for a very long time.

Now, though, something was different. Emilie couldn’t put her finger on it at first. It was hard to focus.

“It worked,” a voice behind her said, full of triumph and relief. Emilie whirled around.

There was something familiar about the blue figure standing before her. Emilie had seen her before, somewhere. A book?

“That,” Emilie said, pointing at the woman’s brooch. “I’ve seen that before. It belongs to,” Emilie furrowed her brow, trying to remember, “...Paon.”

Paon nodded. “You found it once, a long time ago. Now it’s going to find you.”

Emilie frowned, confused. “Find me? I’m...” she trailed off and looked around. “Where am I?” Why hadn’t she ever thought to ask that before now?

Paon gazed at her sadly for a moment, then closed the distance between them. She lifted her hand to Emilie’s face, tracing the edge of it with her blue nails. “If I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn’t bother coming to you like this. You’d be back home already.”

Home…

“Adrien,” Emilie whispered. “Gabriel.”

Paon tilted her head. “That’s right. They miss you very much. Gabriel gave me this brooch just so I would be able to come to you and deliver that message.”

Emilie could feel her heart beginning to race. Everything was wrong, everything had been wrong for as long as she’d been here, why was she only just now realizing it?

“Why didn’t he come himself?”

“He couldn’t get it to work for him. Fussy things, Miraculouses. He wants you to know he hasn’t given up on you, he’ll never give up on you. He’ll do whatever it takes to get you back.”

A chill ran down Emilie’s spine. Something about the way Paon had delivered that message left Emilie certain her husband had already done unforgivable things in her name. “What has he-“

“Shhhh.” Paon grinned at Emilie’s expression, then circled around behind her. “Don’t trouble yourself.” Emilie kept her gaze fixed on the void ahead as she felt Paon’s hands on her shoulders, Paon’s breath on her neck. “My time here is limited, and I have a message of my own. Don’t you want to hear it?”

Slowly, Emilie nodded.

“Gabriel has already done everything he can think of, and he’s gotten nowhere. But I will also do whatever it takes to get you back, and I am far, far more creative than your husband.”

Emilie braced herself. “What do you want in return?”

Paon leaned closer. “Isn’t it obvious?” she whispered. “You.”

 

* * *

 

“You’re back,” Emilie said, not turning around. “I didn’t think you would be.”

“I didn’t know,” Paon replied, walking up behind her. “It’s a very difficult spell. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve attempted it.” Emilie felt Paon’s hand come to rest on her shoulder. “Do you want me to leave?”

Emilie shook her head.

“I upset you.”

Emilie started to shake her head again, then stopped herself. “Yes,” she admitted. “Before you came, I didn’t know anything was wrong.” She turned around and looked Paon in the eye, their faces mere inches apart. “How long? How long have I been here?”

“Here specifically? I couldn’t say. You’ve been missing for about fourteen months.” Paon just managed to catch Emilie as she lurched forward, gasping, as though Paon had punched her in the stomach. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-“

“A _year_? I’ve been in this hell for over a year?”

“I’m sorry,” Paon repeated. “I promise it won’t be much longer now. We’re close to acquiring the power we need to find you.” Emilie started shaking, and Paon held her tightly until the tremors eventually subsided.

“Do I want to know how you’re acquiring that power?” Emilie finally whispered.

“No.”

Emilie nodded, then pulled away from Paon and stood up, composing herself as best as she was able. “Fine. What can you tell me?”

“I don’t have time to tell you anything,” Paon said. “This spell only lasts five minutes, and I came here to see if there was anything you could tell me. Anything that might help us find you.”

Emilie folded her arms. “Like what?”

“Are you ever awake?”

Emilie considered the question. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly. “I don’t remember anything other than being here.”

“What about before? What’s the last thing you remember before being here?”

“Adrien,” Emilie said. She brushed away a tear. “I said goodnight to Adrien, and then I went to bed.” Paon let out a frustrated sigh. “That doesn’t help, does it?”

Paon shook her head. “I’m sorry. Don’t worry, though, we’ll find you. I swear.”

“I don’t want you or Gabriel doing anything that-“

Paon pressed a finger to Emilie’s lips, silencing her mid-sentence. “Shh. Don’t upset yourself by thinking of that. I’ll take care of everything, Emilie.” Paon moved the finger under Emilie’s chin, tilting her face up, then leaned in and kissed her.

Emilie had just made up her mind to kiss Paon back when Paon vanished.

 

* * *

 

“What is it this time?” Emilie asked the next time Paon appeared. “Questions, or a message?”

“Neither. I missed you. Didn’t you miss me?”

Emilie nodded as Paon wrapped her arms around Emilie’s waist. “Terribly. You have no idea what it’s like, waiting in this nothingness, now that you’ve made me aware of it. How long has it been since the last time you were here?”

Paon hesitated. “A month,” she admitted.

“Jesus,” Emilie muttered. “You said you were close.”

“Don’t be angry.” Paon pressed her lips to Emilie’s cheek. “We’re getting there.”

“Who are you, anyway?”

Paon let out a low chuckle. “You haven’t figured that out yet? Who’s the one woman Gabriel Agreste would trust with this Miraculous, the one person he’d trust to help him find his wife?”

Emilie froze. “ _Nathalie_?” Paon kissed her cheek again as confirmation. “You’re so… different. Do the Miraculouses change people so much?”

“The Miraculouses don’t change people at all,” Paon said. “They merely reveal the hidden parts of one’s true self.”

“What hidden parts of Gabriel’s self has the Butterfly Miraculous revealed, then?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“You say that every time you come here. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Oh, surely there’s something else you could ask about for once.”

Emilie hesitated. “Adrien. How is he?”

Paon stiffened. “Fine,” she said evasively.

Emilie pulled away from Paon. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Adrien’s fine,” Paon repeated. “He’s quite safe, and his father and I will make sure he stays that way. He’s just… taking his time coming around to our way of thinking, that’s all. He’s having trouble seeing the bigger picture.”

Emilie snorted. “Something tells me you’ve got that backwards.”

Paon shrugged. “Perhaps. It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?”

“No. Right and wrong aren’t a matter of perspective.”

Paon grinned. “Well, it’s clear where your son gets it from.” Emilie glared, but that only seemed to amuse Paon further. “Emilie, Emilie, Emilie.” Paon took Emilie’s hand and gently lifted it up, kissing the back of it. “We’re almost out of time again. Next time I make it here, try not to waste the whole visit being angry with me, won’t you?”

Slowly, Emilie nodded. “Alright,” she whispered.

 

* * *

 

The next time Paon appeared, Emilie was on her in the blink of an eye, throwing her arms around Paon and pulling her into a feverish kiss.

“What brought that on?” Paon asked, when Emilie finally stopped to take a breath. “Not that I’m complaining, but-“

“You said not to waste the next visit,” Emilie replied, running her hands over Paon’s hips. “Five minutes isn’t very long, is it?”

“Not long enough,” Paon agreed, kissing Emilie again. “So let’s not waste them. Tell me what you want.”

“You. This. I haven’t been touched in so long, have I?”

“I’m not really touching you, you know,” Paon said, running her hand under Emilie’s shirt, caressing her skin. “This is all in our heads. A clairvoyance spell, courtesy of the Peacock Miraculous.”

“I don’t care,” Emilie said impatiently. “I need this, I need you. I need to feel-ah!” Emilie inhaled sharply as Paon lightly bit her earlobe. “Everything, I need to feel everything.” She dug her nails into Paon’s arms as Paon continued to bite and kiss, caress and pinch. “I think I’m going mad here,” she whispered breathlessly. “Promise you’ll come back.”

“I’ll always come back,” Paon murmured into the hollow of Emilie’s collarbone. “Until I find you, I’ll always come back as often as I can.” Paon’s nails dug into the small of Emilie’s back, and Emilie arched into her. She felt her face flush hot as she tried to balance her need to breathe with her need for as much affection as she could get out of their limited time. Emilie’s heart raced, her blood pumped, every inch of her trembled, and just as she was nearing something resembling satisfaction, Emilie-

-woke up.

 

* * *

 

White. Everything around Emilie was white and blinding. She opened her eyes for the first time in over a year, and immediately squeezed them shut again. Had the world always been like this?

Slowly, Emilie opened her eyes once more. No, even for the real world, even for a place that wasn’t an empty void of dark nothingness, this room was bright. Sterile. Some kind of hospital.

There was a young woman standing at the foot of Emilie’s bed, studying a folder. She was wearing scrubs, and though Emilie couldn’t see the badge hanging from her neck, Emilie was sure it was some kind of employee ID. A nurse, then?

Emilie tried to sit up, and found she couldn’t. Her first thought was that her muscles must have atrophied, but then she realized she was strapped down.

“What the hell is going on?”

The nurse screamed, and just barely managed to keep from throwing the folder in her hands. She stared at Emilie, eyes wide. “You… you’re not supposed to be awake,” she managed to say.”

“Where am I?”

The nurse ignored Emilie’s question. She kept her eyes fixed on Emilie as she backed up to the wall, then grabbed the phone hanging by the door. “There’s an emergency. One of them is awake. One of the _subjects_ , who else would I be… how the hell should I know? Just send Dr. Marsden or Dr. Favre immediately.” The nurse looked down at the file she was holding. “Subject 17. Emilie Agreste. Room 104. Fine.” The nurse hung up the phone, then looked at Emilie.

“Where am I?” Emilie repeated. “Why am I here?”

The nurse shook her head. “I can’t… I’m not supposed to talk to you.”

“Please,” Emilie said, “please, just tell me anything about what’s going on. I can’t go anywhere, can I? Where’s the harm in knowing what’s happening to me?”

“I…” The nurse looked at her, torn, but before she could make up her mind the door opened, and a middle aged woman in a white coat came rushing in. She looked at Emilie and scowled, then hurried to the monitors next to the head of Emilie’s bed.

“What’s-“

“Quiet,” the doctor snapped. She turned to the nurse. “Go down to room 112 and print out everything recorded for subject 17 in the last hour. Now.” She turned back to the monitor as the nurse practically ran from the room.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Emilie said, trying to sound as authoritative as she could manage. The doctor ignored her and continued to study the monitor. “If you don’t let me go immediately, I swear you’ll regret it.”

Rolling her eyes, the doctor finally looked at Emilie. “Is that so?”

“My husband-“

The doctor cut Emilie off with a laugh. “You have no idea how long you’ve been here, so trust me, your husband is not coming for you. You’ve been dead to the world for a very long time now. And even if he were still looking for you, which he isn’t, I assure you I’ve handled men much scarier than your husband. I am not frightened of some reclusive fashion designer, no matter how rich he is.”

Emilie pulled at her restraints. They rattled noisily, but otherwise the action was futile. “You have one more chance to-“

“Mrs. Agreste. I am a very busy woman, and right now you present a very big problem. You should not be awake. I need to focus right now and figure out what went wrong, so either you will keep quiet willingly or I will call a nurse to come in and gag you. It makes no difference to me which option you choose, understand?” Emilie nodded. “Good.”

Emilie looked around, trying to take in as many clues as she could. There were a few other beds in the room, occupied, but Emilie couldn’t see their faces. There was a window, but it was snowing too heavily to get a good look at anything outside. With a pang, Emilie wondered how many Christmases she’d already missed. Tearing her eyes away from the window, Emilie’s gaze fell on the doctor’s ID badge, currently mere inches from her face.

 _Marsden, Rita. MD. Paranormal Research Department, Geneva University_.

The nurse re-entered the room and joined Dr. Marsden, handing her a stack of papers. The doctor flipped through for a minute or two, then looked at Emilie. “Your heart rate elevated to well outside normal parameters,” she said. “The system automatically cut off your sedative in response as a safety precaution. Any idea how that happened? Was it a nightmare? You’re not supposed to be dreaming.”

“I… don’t remember dreaming,” Emilie said slowly. They had no idea, then, that Nathalie was visiting her. Emilie had almost no idea what was going on, but it was clear that was a secret she should keep.

“Hmph.” Dr. Marsden thought for a moment, then turned to the nurse. “Have Michael’s team do a full analysis of Mrs. Agreste’s data and figure out where the malfunction originated from. In the meantime, I’ll turn the sedative back on manually and up the dosage so her heart rate stays nice and steady.” She began to press a few buttons on the machine attached to Emilie’s IV.

“No,” Emilie said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice, “no, please, I’ll be good, I’ll be quiet, just let me stay awake, don’t send me back to that place, _please_.”

Dr. Marsden chuckled. “You’re not much use to anyone awake,” she said. Before Emilie could respond, everything went black.

 

* * *

 

“Do you remember _anything_ else?” Paon asked. “What about the nurse’s name? You're sure Marsden never said it?”

Emilie nodded. “I’m sure. I told you everything. It has to be enough, it has to. How many Dr. Rita Marsdens could there possibly be in Geneva?”

Paon pressed her lips to Emilie’s temple. “You’re right. I’m sure it will be enough.” She kissed Emilie again, but Emilie didn’t respond. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re doing something to me. I can’t feel anything anymore. I tried. The moment they put me back under I tried, I tried to get me heart racing again, but nothing worked.” Emilie sighed and leaned her head against Paon’s chest. “I’m so tired. I’ve been asleep for weeks and I’m still so tired.”

Paon wrapped her arms around Emilie, hugging her close. “What can I do?”

“Just hold me,” Emilie said, pressing into Paon and closing her eyes. “For as long as you can, just keep holding me.”

“Of course.”

 

* * *

 

“Was it enough?” Emilie asked. “Have you found me yet?”

“Almost,” Paon said. “We’re in Geneva, and we’ve found Dr. Marsden.”

Emilie raised an eyebrow. “But?”

“But she’s impossibly good at covering up whatever it is she’s doing. Gabriel and I are about this close to just abducting her off the street and pulling out her fingernails one by one until she tells us where you are.”

“What’s stopping you?” Emilie asked. Paon raised an eyebrow, surprised. “I hope it’s not my moral objections to your supervillainy, because where Dr. Marsden is concerned all bets are off.”

Paon trailed a finger along Emilie’s shoulders. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, “neither Gabriel nor I have ever let your moral objections stop us from doing anything. No, we just think it best not to tip our hand before we’ve located you. We’re not sure how Marsden’s superiors will react, if they realize we’re close to finding you.”

Emilie shivered. “Good point.”

“We think… Gabriel thinks he can locate you within the city if you’re awake.”

“How will you-“ Paon cut Emilie off with a kiss, pulling her in fiercely. Emilie kissed her back, but as much as she threw herself into it she couldn’t make herself feel what she needed to feel, couldn’t make her heart race like it had before. “I’m sorry,” Emilie whispered, “it won’t work, they’re still keeping me too far under, I’m trying but-“

“Shh. I know, darling, I know. That wasn’t the attempt to wake you. I just had to kiss you one more time before doing what needs to be done.” Paon kissed Emilie’s cheek tenderly. “The next time you see me, you’ll be awake, I swear it.”

Emilie frowned. “If that wasn’t your plan, then what-“

In the blink of an eye, Paon wrapped her fingers around Emilie’s throat and squeezed with all her strength.

 

* * *

 

Emilie woke up gasping.

She was in the same room as before, but so much was different. She was surrounded by shouting doctors and frantic nurses and machines beeping angrily.

“-the _hell_ do we keep having problems with her, she gets more attention than the other nineteen subjects put together and you still can't-oh great, she’s awake again-manage a simple-“

“Her vitals are stabilizing, Dr. Favre,” a nurse interrupted.

“Good. Clear the room.” The nurses surrounding the bed hesitated. “ _Now_. Not you, Marsden,” Favre added, as everyone else scurried for the door. Dr. Marsden folded her arms and glared at Emilie. “Well?” Favre said once the door was closed. “Any theories?”

“Ask her,” Marsden said, nodding towards Emilie. “Look at her face, she knows something.”

“Don’t be absurd.” Favre looked at Emilie. “You don't know anything, do you?”

 _Stall_.

Emilie took a deep breath. “I know it’s not too late for you to let me go.”

“Mrs. Agreste, the only way you’re leaving this institution is in a body bag. And trust me, if you weren’t our most potent diviner, you’d already be in one.”

“You’re running out of time, Dr. Favre. Trust me, my husband will not be offering you any deals when he finds you.”

Marsden’s face went white. “I _told_ you,” she hissed at Favre. “I told you her husband being in town spelled trouble.”

“It’s a coincidence,” Favre said, though he sounded far from certain. “He’s poaching a potential business competitor.”

“Really? Days before she impossibly wakes up again?”

Emilie closed her eyes as the doctors continued to bicker. If Gabriel was attempting to locate her, he was using the Butterfly Miraculous. That meant he could find her if her emotions were strong enough. The sedative interfered with that, but Emilie’s emotions naturally ran high. She blocked out the bickering and focused on how desperately she missed her family, how afraid she was to be held prisoner in this hospital, how furious she was at those who dared keep her here.

_Gabriel. Gabriel, please find me._

Emilie focused on how much she loved her husband, despite everything she suspected he’d done. She focused on how much she had come to love Nathalie over the past few months, how desperately she relied on the woman’s visits to her mindscape.

“Dr. Favre?”

The doctor crossed to the intercom on the other side of the door. “What?”

“There’s, um...there’s…”

“Spit it out, nurse,” Favre growled.

“There’s an entire team of officers here, Doctor, at the front desk, they know about the experiments, they’re demanding to search the hospital, I don’t know how they-“

“Fuck,” Favre swore. “So be it. The shields should hold them off long enough for us to destroy all the evidence. Stall them as long as you can.”

“But Doctor, they have-“ Favre jabbed a button, and the intercom went dead. He pressed another, and it began to ring.

“Analytics,” a voice answered.

“Michael? The experiment’s been compromised, burn all the records.”

There was a pause. “That’s nearly two years of work.”

“We’re made, Michael. We can start over, but not if we’re in jail for life, understand?”

There was a sigh. “Yes, sir.”

Favre turned back to Marsden. “We’ll up everyone’s dosages to fatal levels, then hide them in the morgue until their search is complete and it’s safe to move them to the crematorium.

Marsden set her jaw. “Two years of research,” she said bitterly. “All for nothing.”

“We’ll remember enough of it,” Favre promised. “Your genius won’t be lost forever.”

Marsden nodded, then pressed a button on Emilie’s IV machine.

“No!” Emilie shouted, “No, no, no, you can’t just-“

“Shut up,” Marsden snapped. “This is all your fault, I just know it. Killing you is the one silver lining I have.”

Emilie pulled at her restraints uselessly. She could feel the sedative start to take hold of her, and bitter tears fell freely. Adrien. Emilie would never see Adrien again, and that hurt more than all the rest of it combined, that twisted in her gut and stabbed at her heart, and in her final moments of consciousness she let the injustice of it wash over her, let it drown her entirely.

“Adrien,” she whispered. Let that be the last word to fall from her lips, let her dying thoughts be of-

There was a sudden loud bang. Favre and Marsden looked out the glass window of the room just as the shields over their wing of the hospital crumbled and decayed into shadow. Three masked figures stormed towards them, one black, one blue, one purple. The figure in black reached the room first. “Get away from my-get away from her,” he snarled. Marsden and Favre stepped back, hands raised. The blue figure entered next, and as she waved a hand towards the doctors they both crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

“IV,” Emilie whispered.

“What about it?” Emilie couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. “Mom, what about it?”

“Lethal…”

Frantically, the hero ripped out the IV line in Emilie’s arm. “Stay with us, Mom, you have to fight it, you can’t-“ his voice broke as he began undoing Emilie’s restraints, “we can’t lose you now, we just got you _back_ -“

Emilie was pulled to a sitting position, and she took as deep a breath as she could manage. “Adrien?” she whispered.

Adrien hugged her tightly. “It’s Chat Noir until we get back home, okay?”

Emilie nodded weakly. With great effort, she opened her eyes. Her son was holding her, and right behind him- “Gabriel? Nathalie?”

Emilie felt each of them take a hand. “You’re safe now,” Gabriel told her.

Emilie nodded, and her eyes closed once more. “I knew you’d…” Before she could finish, sleep took her once more.

 

* * *

 

Slowly, Emilie opened her eyes. Gone was the uncomfortable hospital bed, the restraints, the sterile white walls, the harsh lights. Adrien was asleep in a chair to her right, Gabriel and Nathalie on a chaise lounge off to her left. This was Emilie’s bedroom. She was home.

“Adrien?”

“Mom!” Next to her bed, Adrien jumped up from his chair and rushed to her side.“How do you feel?”

Emilie blinked. “It’s over?”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re safe now.” Adrien took her hand. “Um, the doctors- _real_ doctors, not those-they said you’re not fully recovered yet, but we,” Adrien glanced across the bed, to where Gabriel and Nathalie had come to stand, “we thought you’d probably had enough of hospitals.”

Emilie nodded. “Yes, I think I have,” she murmured. “What... _why_?”

“Do you remember that independent movie you filmed in Delphi a few years ago?” Gabriel asked her gently.

“You mean last-“ Emilie’s face fell. “Oh,” she whispered. “I suppose it was a few years ago now, wasn’t it.”

Gabriel nodded gravely. “The entire cast and crew, it seems, was exposed to psychic energies during filming, psychic energies that only flare up once a century. Marsden and Favre,” Gabriel was unable to keep entirely from sneering at their names, “were working on a way to harness that energy for prophetic purposes.”

“I see.” Emilie frowned. “Are there...will there be permanent effects?”

Gabriel clenched his jaw and didn’t answer. “We don’t know,” Nathalie said, taking Emilie’s free hand.

“Nathalie!” Emilie sighed. “Thank you,” she whispered fervently, “Thank you, you… you kept me sane, you got me through those months of…” Emilie took a deep breath.

“Of course,” Nathalie said softly. She was different, but still recognizable as Paon. Something about the eyes, some steel at her center Emilie had never noticed before.

Adrien looked up at Gabriel and Nathalie. “Well?” They both shifted uncomfortably. “You promised, you promised when she was safe this would all be over.”

Gabriel nodded silently, and then he and Nathalie slowly unpinned their brooches and handed them to Adrien. He pocketed them quickly. “I’m taking these back to the Guardian now,” he said firmly. He gave his mother a hug. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised. Without another word, he’d gone.

“I…” Gabriel stared at the door. “I should talk to him,” he murmured, before following after his son.

Emilie sighed and looked at Nathalie. “Was it really that bad? Everything you two did to find me?”

Nathalie nodded, then sat next to Emilie on the bed. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, it was. The past year has been particularly difficult on both of them.”

Emilie blinked back tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s not your fault.” Nathalie leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Emilie’s forehead. “It’s nothing that can’t be fixed, now you’re back and safe.”

Slowly, Emilie nodded. “We’ll get through it together, won’t we?” She took Nathalie’s hand. “As a family.”


End file.
